Many breast cancer awareness sites show gentle imagery of mid-life women smiling and surrounded by friends and family. Not this one. The music is fast and urgent; the imagery is stark and simple; the message is direct. This is a Serious, Rebellious, Mastery, Self video across the board. It says clearly: There are consequences for our everyday intake of chemicals; it is up to you to question, change, and push back against the status quo, and to gain knowledge and make your own decisions.

What are the risks of such an approach? The directness of the implied linkage between personal choice and breast cancer susceptibility could call many skeptics to the table to question causality, statistics, evidence. Many believe cancer is largely out of their control, and for some, the forcefulness with which the video questions that assumption could trigger both denial and the outright dismissal of the overarching message.

There is a generational component here at work. The Keep a Breast Foundation has a mission to “increase breast cancer awareness among young people so they are better equipped to make choices and develop habits that will benefit their long-term health and well-being.” This is the same organization that runs the Playful (and for some controversial) I (Heart) Boobies campaign, which focuses on methods of early detection and prevention of breast cancer, and engaging both girls and boys earlier in the conversation.

Your motivational states impact how you perceive and react to social messaging, but generational alignment may also play a role. We tend to associate Conforming with the older set, and see younger generations as more Rebellious. This video plays to that generational divide. For some, it may cause discomfort. For others, though, it might just be the fresh call to action that inspires change. True empowerment: one decision at a time.